Sleeve-valve engine



. March 31, 1931. F. F. DAUENHAUER 1,798,313

SLEEVE VALVE ENGINE Filed March 20, 1929 2 Shets-Sheet 1 m ma N NE EU A m F u m I B M M 1 L m l// 3 I J. I

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March 1931- F. F. DAUENHAUER SLEEVE VALVE ENGINE Filed March 20, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. fin R/AN A 0A umwu 1154? s ATTORNEYS.

Patented Mar. 31, 1931 UNITED STATES FLORIAN F. IDAUENHAUER, OF SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA SLEEVE-VALVE ENGINE Application filed March 20, 1929. Serial No. 348,563.

My invention relates to improvements in sleeve valve engines, and it consists in the combinations, constructions and arrangements hereinafter described and claimed.

I An object of my invention is to provide a sleeve valve engine in which the cylinder is movable as well as the piston and constitutes the sleeve valve. The engine is designed to have one power stroke for each revolution of 1 the crank shaft. The engine further depends upon twin ignition, and the moving contacts for creating the sparks are designed to pass close enough to each other to cause sparks to be given off by the spark plugs, but the contacts do not actually touch each other. This prolongs the life of the contacts indefinitely.

A further obj ect of my invention is to provide a device of the type described which works on the two-cycle principle, the com- 80 pressing of the charge just before entering the cylinder being performed in the top of the cylinder rather than in the crank case as 1s now the practice. The device is simple in construction, and I have shown one cylinder to illustrate the principle. It is obvious'that any number of cylinders may be provided without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Furthermore, the cylinders may be arranged radially about the crank shaft in order to adapt the device for use 1n air lanes.

(E ther objects and advantages will appear as the specification proceeds, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in 36 theappended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is an end elevation of the devlce;

Figure 2 is a section along line 2-2 of Fi ure 1;

figure 3 is a top plan view of the device;

Figure 4 is a section along line 44 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 2 but showmg the parts in a different position; and

Figure 6 is a section along line 6--6 of Figure 5. r

In carrying out my invention, I provide a crank casin 1 in which I mount a crank shaft 2 (see igures 1 and 2). A yoke 3'has its arms projecting through the top of the casing and journaled to the crank shaft 2. This yoke carries an intake pipe 4, and the latter is provided with annnular flanges 5 that are received in grooves in the U-portion of the yoke. A bracket 6 (see Figure 1) is bolted to the top of the yoke and prevents movement of the intake pipe 4 with respect to the yoke.

The crank casing 1 slidably carries a cylinder'7,'and the latter is slidably mounted upon the intake pipe 4. At the bottom of the pipe 4, I mount a head 8 that constitutes the combustion head of the cylinder. It will be seen that the head 8 is fixed with respect to the crank casing and the yoke, and that the cylinder moves with respectto the head.

The cylinder is moved vertically by means of an eccentric 9 (see Figure 6) that is operated by the crank shaft 2. The eccentric follower 10 has its free end slidably mounted in a guide 11. The free end is secured to the bottom of the cylinder 7 and the guide prevents rotation of the cylinder.

Within the cylinder 7 I mount a piston 12, and this piston is connected to the crank shaft 2 by means of a connecting rod 13. Figure 2 shows the position of the cylinder 7, head 8, and piston 12 at the time of firing, while Figure 5 shows the same parts in a position or exhausting gases and for receiving a new charge.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily understood.

The intake gases flow through the pipe 4 and into a chamber 14 formed above the head 8 through openings 15 in the pipe. This action takes place after the cylinder 7 has moved from the position shown in Figure 5 to uncover the openings 15. The relative movement of the head 8 downwardly in the cylinder 7 from the position shown in Figure 5 creates a partial vacuum within the chamber 14, because the initial movement will close the outlets 16 of passageways 17, and further relative movement of the head 8 downwardly in the cylinder 7 will tend to create a vacuum within the chamber 14. As soon as the open ings 15 are uncovered, the intake gases will flow into the chamber 14. This flow of gases intothe chamber will continue until the cylinder 7 and the head 8 reach the position shown in Figure 2.

Further movement of the parts will cause the end 18 of the cylinder 7 to move toward the head 8 and to compress the gases within the chamber 14:. This continues until the outlet openings 16 of the passageways 17 are uncovered by the head 8. The compressed gas within the chamber 14 will then flow through the inlet openings 19 of the passageways 17 and on through the passageways and into the combustion chamber 20 of the cylinder. The flow of gases into the combustion chamber will take place just after the burnt gases from the preceding power stroke have been exhausted through exhaust openings 21 in the cylinder 7. An annular gas pipe 22 receives the exhaust gases and conveys them to an exhaust pipe 23 (see Figure 1). In Figure 5 I have shown the outlet openings 16 and the exhaust openings 21 both registering with the combustion compartment 20. In practice, however, the piston 12 will close ofi the exhaust openings 21 before the intake gases flowing into the combustion chamber 20 can reach the exhaust openings 21. The crank arms 24.- (see Figure 2) for moving the piston 12, are longer than the greatest radius of the eccentric 9. This will cause the piston 12 to move more rapidly and through a longer distance than the cylinder 7. In this way the piston 12 will close the exhaust openings 21 even though the piston and the cylinder are traveling upwardly at the same time.

\Ve now have the intake gases in the combustion chamber 20. The upward movement of the piston 12 and the cylinder 7 will cause the piston to close the exhaust openings 21 before they pass above the annular gas pipe 22. The piston will move into proximity with the head 8 (see Figure 2). This will compress the gases between the head and the piston. It should be understood that during this movement of the cylinder 7 upwardly it is enlarging the chamber 14 in the manner already described for sucking into the chamber a new charge of gas.

The upward movement of the cylinder 7 will carry spark plugs 25 (see Figure 2) into registration with terminals 26 carried by the yoke 3. Although there will be no actual contact between the spark plugs and the terminals, the voltage of the current flowing through wires 27 will be strong enough to jump the gap and to cause both spark plugs 25 to create sparks at the same time. This twin ignition will explode the compressed gas within the combustion chamber 20 and will drive the piston 12 downwardly. It will be remembered that the head 8 is stationary. The downward movement of the piston 12 will turn the crank shaft 2 and the crank shaft will cause the eccentric 9 to carry the cylinder 7 downwardly. The exhaust openings 21 will be kept closed by the piston 12 until they reach the annular gas pipe 22. At this point the piston uncovers the exhaust openings 21 and the gas flows into the annular pipe as already described.

This downward movement of the piston 12 and the downward movement of the cylinder 7 will shrink the capacity of the charm her 1% so as to compress the intake gases and force them from the chamber into the combustion chamber 20 when the outlet openings 16 are uncovered. This brings us back to the start of the cycle, and the same op eration is repeated so long as the engine runs.

The timing of the sparks is automatic, and this is accomplished by moving the spark plugs toward and away from the terminals 26. Figure 2 shows these spark plugs in registration with the terminals, while Figure 5 shows them removed.

Although 1 have shown and described one embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that the same is susceptible of various changes, and I reserve the right to employ such changes as may come within the scope of the invention as claimed.

1 claim:

1. A sleeve valve engine comprising a casing, a crank shaft, a cylinder slidably carried by said casing, means connecting said cylinder with said crank shaft for reciprocating said cylinder, a piston slidable in said cylinder and being operatively connected to said crank shaft, a head slidably mounted in said cylinder and being fixed with respect to said casing, said head dividing said cylinder into an intake compartment and a combustion compartment, means controlled by the head for conveying gases from the intake compartment to the combustion compartment, and means for exhausting the gases at the end of the power stroke of the piston.

2. A sleeve Valve engine comprising a casing, a crank shaft, a cylinder slidably carried by said casing, means connecting said cylinder with said crank shaft for reciprocating said cylinder, a piston slidable in said cylinder and being operatively connected to said crank shaft, a head slidably mounted in said I cylinder and being fixed with respect to said casing, said head dividing said cylinder into an intake compartment and a combustion compartment, means controlled by the head for conveying gases from the intake compartment to the combustion compartment, and means for exhausting the gases at the end of the power stroke of the piston, said last named means including exhaust openings in the cylinder, said piston closing said openings during the greater part of the movement of the piston.

3. An engine comprising. .a casing, a movable cylinder, a movable piston, a head fixed to the casing and mounted within said cylinder, said cylinder being slidable with respect to said head, and a crank shaft for moving said piston and cylinder for enlarging the combustion chamber during the firing stroke.

4. An engine comprising a casing, a mov able cylinder, a movable piston, a fixed head mounted within said cylinder, said cylinder being slidable with respect to said head, a crank shaft for moving said piston and cylinder for enlarging the combustion chamber during the firing stroke, said head forming with said cylinder an intake chamber in the top of the cylinder, means for conveying gas to the chamber, said means being controlled by the movement of said cylinder, and means for conveying the gas from the intake chamber to the combustion chamber, said last named means being controlled by the moving cylinder and the fixed head.

5. In an engine, a movable cylinder, a fixed head mounted within said cylinder, said cyl-- inder being movable with respect to said head, said head dividing said cylinder into ani intake chamber and a combustion chamber, an intake pipe extending into said intake chamber and having openings closed by the cylinder during a portion of its stroke, and means for moving said cylinder with respect to said head and intake pipe for causing a partial vacuum to be created within the intake chamber prior to the openings in the pipe being uncovered, whereby the intake gases will be sucked into the intake chamber as soon as the openings are uncovered.

6. In an engine, a casing, a cylinder slidable therein, a piston slidably mounted in said cylinder, a crank shaft connected to the cylinder and piston, and an annular exhaust pipe surrounding the cylinder and being secured to said casing, the cylinder otherwise having its outer surface exposed, said cylinder having exhaust openings for registering with the exhaust pipe at the com pletion of the firing stroke of the piston for permitting the burnt gases to pass into the gas pipe, said piston covering the exhaust openings during the time the openings are out of registration with the exhaust pipe.

7. In an engine, a casing, a cylinder slidable therein, a piston slidably mounted in a cylinder, a crank shaft connected to the cylinder and piston, and an annular exhaust pipe surrounding the cylinder and being secured to said casing, the cylinder otherwise having its outer surface exposed, said cylinder having exhaust openings for registering with the exhaust pipe at the completion of the firing stroke of the piston for per mitting the burnt gases to pass into the gas pipe, said cylinder carrying the exhaust openings above the gas pipe during a portion of the movement of the cylinder, said piston being movable to close the exhaust ports during the time they are above the gas pipe.

8. In an engine, a cylinder, a head having a relative movement with respect to the cylinder and dividing it into an intake compartment and a combustion compartment, said cylinder having passageways placing both compartments in communication with each other, said head controlling the flow of gases from the intake compartment into the combustion compartment.

9. In'an engine, a casing, an intake pipe carried by said casing, a cylinder having a closed end slidable on the pipe, a head carried by said pipe and dividing the cylinder into intake and combustion compartments, means for moving the cylinder for varying the sizes of the compartments, said pipe having gas inlet openings uncovered after the intake compartment has been enlarged to a predetermined extent.

10. In an engine, a casing, an intake pipe carried by said casing, a cylinder having a closed end slidable on the pipe, a head carried by said pipe and dividing the cylinder into intake and combustion compartments, means for moving the cylinder for varying the sizes of the compartments, said pipe having gas inlet openings uncovered after the intake compartment has been enlarged to a predetermined extent, said cylinder having passageways placing the compartments in communication with each other, said head closing the passageways to said combustion compartment while the gas inlet openings in the pipe are in registration with the intake compartment.

FLORIAN F. DAUENHAUER. 

